Microporous to Invest $1.35b in Separator Plant in Virginia

Wedoany.com Report-Nov 20,  Microporous LLC, a leading manufacturer of battery separators, will invest $1.35 billion to establish a new manufacturing facility in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. The company will develop two phases of the project on Lot 1 of the Southern Virginia Megasite, each facility phase being approximately 500,000 square feet. Lot 2 of the Megasite is anticipated to be under consideration for future expansion. This project will create 2,015 new jobs. Virginia successfully competed with North Carolina for the project.

Microporous, headquartered in Piney Flats, Tennessee, is a manufacturer, developer, and marketer of battery separators and engineered materials. The company plans to build on its core strength of lead battery separators, expanding into battery separators for lithium-ion batteries which are used in electric vehicle, energy storage systems, industrial, and consumer electronics applications.

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with the Danville-Pittsylvania County Regional Industrial Facility Authority, Pittsylvania County, the City of Danville, the Southern Virginia Regional Alliance, the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission, and the General Assembly’s Major Employment and Investment Project Approval Commission (MEI Commission) to secure the project for Virginia.

Microporous will be eligible to receive an MEI Commission-approved special appropriation of up to $60.6 million based on an investment of more than $1.3 billion and the creation of jobs estimated to be in excess of 2,000, subject to approval by the Virginia General Assembly. The Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission, which has invested nearly $35 million in the Southern Virginia Megasite since 2008, approved up to $25 million in low-interest financing to bring major natural gas service to the project. Additionally, the company is eligible to apply for state grants from the The Port of Virginia.